It’s that time of year where once again we find a good portion of the American citizenry involved in a game of roulette with blowing off body parts while setting off explosives, getting Listeria from potato salad that has sat out too long in the sun on a hot day and sun burns.

I’m not a huge fan of the day other than it’s a celebration of the day our founding fathers put their foot down and declared they were no longer going to be subjects of what turned out to be one of my major homelands, England.

We had horses growing up and my Grandpa would often buy illegal fireworks and invite himself over to shoot them off, scaring the crap out of the livestock. Needless to say, I was more concerned for the livestock. Once, Grandpa nearly set one of my cousins on fire by shooting off some spinny thing that took off rolling like a rat running from a bonfire. I remember she ended up with holes in her shirt. Thanks, Grandpa.

No, no Sir, I am not a fan of fireworks. I like them from a distance. They are pretty to look at, and those particular fireworks that bloom and have those little zippy guys – those are neat. I do like sparklers and “snakes”, too.

The annual fireworks display in Green Bay was a favorite place for my Mom to haul us all off to. It was Downtown, which was a big deal at that point, and we’d go down hours before the fireworks display to people watch. I think I was 12 when my mom elbowed me to point out a dude dressed in all white linen… and free-balling it. Yeah – linen doesn’t leave much to the imagination – but then again, maybe that was his whole deal. We had a good laugh over that, and I was forever hooked on people watching from that point forward.

DH and I don’t buy fireworks, again, I’m not a fan of them up-close-and-personal, that and we have a fire ban right now as our area is in desperate need of rain. So, no fireworks at all for us… oh, and I hope our neighbors know that I’ll be calling the police if they shoot any off. Wisconsin doesn’t need to turn into Colorado.

6 Responses to Happy Independence Day 2012

I totally forgot about the listeria, thanks for that reminder. I’m not a fan of this holiday. Drunk people who suddenly think they are pyrotechnic professionals … yea, not a good time. Enjoy the day. I intend to read a book I just purchased, that’s Freedom to me!

Good Morning! Yep, my intention is to either stick around the house, work out and read a book, or to drag DH off to some hidden gem of natural area to sit in a cold stream since the temperature will reach triple-digits. The luxury to be able to do these things is definitely what Freedom is!

LOVE your choice of pics for this piece! I still like the holiday, even with the explosions and potential for disaster. I wish I could do more to celebrate it -parade, fireworks, picnic- but it never really seems to work out that way. Ah, well, I still got the day off from work- that counts for something, right?! 🙂

We have several families in our neighborhood that spend an exorbitant amount of money on fireworks. Free show for us, and they usually wrap things up by 11, so we don’t complain. Actually lighting off anything more dangerous than a sparkler freaks me out, so I am with you there. Funny you should mention ‘snakes’. I remember those as a kid. And smoke bombs. 🙂

lol we never got smoke bombs as far as I remember – too smelly. But “snakes” were great because it was fascinating to watch them grow and curl about. You never know what way they would go and I loved that.

If it weren’t so dry I’d definitely have gotten myself some sparklers for tonight, but we’re a tinderbox right now. 😦